Rebs Battle Off Bengals In Mullen’s Debut

LAS VEGAS (UNLVRebels.com) – UNLV (1-0) opened the Dan Mullen Era with a hard-fought 38-31 win over Idaho State (0-1) in a Week Zero Saturday afternoon particular earlier than a raucous crowd of 25,723 followers at Allegiant Stadium.
 
In by far the earliest recreation in program historical past, the Rebels needed to rally after falling behind 10-0 after the primary quarter. That’s when All-America candidate working again Jai’Den “Jet” Thomas went to work – igniting his squad with two lengthy landing runs in a span of simply over three minutes. One from 39 yards out and the opposite being a 70-yard race to the top zone to provide the house group its first lead.
 
The Bengals led at halftime, 17-14, and the groups continued to commerce leads till back-to-back interceptions within the fourth quarter, a part of 4 for the squad on the day, led to quarterback Alex Orji‘s go-ahead 11-yard speeding landing on fourth down with slightly below 9 minutes remaining.
 
Orji (3 of three) and fellow-QB Anthony Colandrea (15 of 21) mixed to finish 18 of 24 makes an attempt for 232 yards and one rating (no interceptions) by way of the air and 127 internet yards and the TD on 19 carries on the bottom. Jaden Bradley led all receivers with a career-high 131 yards on six receptions and new security Jake Pope led the group with 10 whole tackles whereas new UNLV cornerback Laterrance Welch had two of the picks to provide him 4 in his profession (two at ASU).
 
The Rebels have now gained 11 of their final 15 dwelling video games and maintain a successful document at Allegiant Stadium (15-14 since opening in 2020) for the primary time ever.
 
REBEL OF THE GAME:
Jai’Den Thomas was magic in his junior debut, speeding for a career-high 147 yards with a 14.7 YPC common, together with a career-long 70-yard dash to the top zone as a part of his three-touchdown day. He additionally moved from ninth to seventh on UNLV’s profession speeding landing checklist with 22.
 
STAT OF THE GAME:
UNLV’s protection introduced in 4 interceptions in a recreation for the primary time since a win over Fresno State on Sept. 28, 2024. Welch had his two, together with one in the long run zone, whereas senior captain LB Marsel McDuffie had his first profession INT and Aamaris Brown grabbed one as nicely.
 
QUOTABLE:
“Great job by these guys. Great strategy to come out and get a win. It’s so onerous to win. We have so many new faces on the sector. I may rise up right here and provide you with all of the completely different boring issues of what occurred within the recreation and all of the little issues that now we have to repair, however the thrilling factor of what occurred is we had been in a troublesome recreation in opposition to a group that that is their large recreation. They had the chance to return play in our stadium, to get to return play in opposition to a group like us and they’ll come out and provides every little thing they’ve and so they did. Their quarterback Jordan Cooke is an unbelievable soccer participant. But the nice factor is that we discovered a strategy to win. It may have been very simple for us to discover a strategy to lose as a group, however this group, these guys all caught collectively and located a strategy to win when it was essential. We are going to take pleasure in this win tonight. We are going to get into work early tomorrow and we’ll begin teaching and fixing and correcting every little thing.
 
“I want to thank all the Rebel fans for creating the atmosphere today. We moved this game up on short notice to Week Zero and our fans showed up. I was looking around and I was shocked. I didn’t know that we would pack the stadium the way that we did and they did a great job. I thank the band, they did an amazing job, and the dance team, the Rebel Girls and Company, and our cheerleaders. Everybody created a great atmosphere that certainly made it a lot of fun for everybody. I can’t wait to come back here and see the type of atmosphere and home field advantage they give us in a couple of weeks against UCLA.”
-UNLV Head Coach Dan Mullen
 
NOTABLE:
-This marked the second Week Zero look in UNLV historical past, becoming a member of an Aug. 27, 2022, win over these identical Idaho State Bengals
-Dan Mullen improved to 12-2 all-time in season-openers throughout his time at Mississippi State, Florida and now UNLV
-UNLV improved to 8-2 all-time vs. ISU in a sequence that dates again to 1969
-All 10 conferences on this sequence have been gained by the house group
-Rebel coaches at the moment are 7-7 all-time of their debuts on the faculty
-UNLV improved to 28-30 all-time in lid-lifters, together with 22-10 once they occur at dwelling
-UNLV improved to 9-3 in non-conference play because the begin of 2023 after having simply six such wins from 2018-22 (6-10)
–Ramon Villela made his first collegiate subject aim with a 26-yarder within the third quarter however missed his different two makes an attempt
-Pitt switch DaeDae Reynolds caught UNLV’s solely landing go of the day from 9 yards out
-Aussie freshman punter Cam Brown was excellent in his debut, averaging 44.8 yards on 4 boots
-McDuffie, who was a captain for the sport, completed with six whole tackles, together with one sack, to go together with his interception

UP NEXT: The Rebels go on the street for the primary time this season for a Friday recreation at Sam Houston. Kickoff is ready for six:30 pm PT and the sport, which is able to happen in Houston, will probably be proven on CBS Sports Network. UNLV will return dwelling one week later when it welcomes UCLA on Sept. 6 beginning at 5 p.m. PT. Tickets can be found at UNLVTickets.com.